Today we dropped off the rental car and took a train headed (ultimately) towards Bergen. But not before Megan enjoyed another “Kanelsnurr” (cinnamon snail) for breakfast. I read an article in a travel magazine a few weeks ago that suggested family vacations can be more fun if every member of the family has a personal quest that they can fit into multiple days of the journey. After trying a Kanelsnurr early in the trip, Megan decided that her quest would be to taste test as many as possible in order to determine the best Kanelsnurr bakery (not that we have agreed to buy her every Kanelsnurr that she sees, so her taste testing has a some limits!). This is Kanelsnurr number 5 for the trip from the well-reviewed Åpenti Bakeri which was near Ekebergparken. She says it ranks among the best, but one from downtown Oslo was better.
We took the train from Oslo which is at sea level. It took us all the way to 1237 meters before the descent to Myrdal which is at 866 meters. We got off at Myrdal and transferred to the Flåmsbana railway, the steepest standard gauge railway in Northern Europe! It is a 20km ride and goes from 866 meters back down to sea level. The views from the train were amazing, basically one waterfall after another. At one waterfall they let us get off and take pictures.
As we enjoyed the photo op, suddenly we could hear singing (a recording that sounded a bit like Enya). Then a woman in red popped up from behind a structure near the waterfall and started doing a sort of dance — perhaps more like elaborate gestures than an actual dance. Before we’d gotten off the train the conductor had warned of the legends of the mystical huldra, women with cow’s tails whose seductive beauty can lure men away. Some legends say the huldra live in the mountains here and perhaps that is who the mystical dancer was. Luckily Leon was not lured away!
We got off at a stop a bit before Flåm in a town called Hariena. It is extremely small, with no stores of any kind, just a few houses and a very nice old church. Our AirBnB is located here which makes it quite secluded despite our being near such a touristy spot. From the front yard we can see a waterfall and the church.
The downside of the place we are staying tonight is that it is a bit too remote — no buses and no train service into Flåm at the hour that we need it. So it looks like we will have to schlep our suitcases into Flåm (4 km) in the morning. I feel bad about that since when I booked the place I hadn’t realized that it was so far away and that the trains didn’t run very frequently. Hopefully it will be ok and not raining.
Balents Trip Blog 